CX Structure is a Critical Component of VoC Program Success

December 14, 2018 By CX Act

A Formalized CX Structure is a Critical Component of VoC Program Success

As my colleague pointed out in a recent post (see Technology Alone Won’t Solve Your CX Problem!), organizations are collecting more and more data, but many reap limited value from that data. In fact, in a recently conducted benchmarking study on Voice of Customer practices, CX Solutions found that organizations are most successful at “collecting data” and least successful at “using VoC to drive systemic improvement.”

There are two general types of actions that can be driven off of VoC data. Bain & Company refers to these as the “inner loop” and the “outer loop.” The “inner loop” is following up on specific issues with

specific customers, resulting in immediate feedback and coaching of employees. Today’s robust VoC technologies are facilitating the ability to easily implement this inner loop through permission-based dashboards and immediate alerts pushed to the front line. Thus, our research shows that organizations are increasingly doing a better job of implementing this inner loop. However, we have seen little movement in organizational success with

the “outer loop”; that is, “using VoC to drive systemic improvement.”

There are multiple reasons for this lack of success in driving systemic change based on customer feedback, but one main reason is that the organization often doesn’t have an intentional structure and process to drive that action. The bulk of the attention is on the “inner loop” which, by its very nature, is segmented by division or channel, with nothing in place that provides for an enterprise-wide review of data to identify and prioritize actions that will drive systemic change.

A best practice structure that drives action consists of multiple organizational levels, each with a specific role, but all aligned on customer experience improvement.

Although the structures can vary across organizations, two important elements at the management level are designated local “CX Champions” and a “Customer Experience Council”.

“CX Champions” or individuals in each function/department/area that are tasked with regularly reviewing customer data for their area, pulling in associated operational data, and identifying high priority opportunities for improvement.

A “Customer Experience Council” is a group of managers (normally includes the CX Champions), from each of the disparate customer-facing departments or groups, that meets on a regular basis (weekly/monthly/ quarterly) to:

•Work together to improve the end-to-end customer experience by jointly identifying gaps and overlaps and ensure everyone understands inter-dependencies between departments and the effect on the customer experience

•Review customer data and agree to measures when making decisions to improve the experience

•Prioritize customer experience improvement activities and budgets

•Initiate and support action planning on identified priorities

A Customer Experience Council should be set up carefully, with a clear charter and governance structure, executive sponsorship and attendance, and defined actions and budget.

To summarize, for a successful Voice of the Customer (VoC) program, you must have an organizational structure in place to support data review across the customer journey and across organizational silos and that can drive systemic changes. Designating CX Champions and the formation of a Customer Experience Council is critical for this process.

Cynthia Grimm

Chief CX Officer

Note: CX Solutions is a CX Research and Consultancy firm and is also an official professional services partner of both Qualtrics and Medallia, where we assist companies with program design, Customer Journey Mapping, engagement and communication strategies as part of the launch of new programs, implementation of the new technology, and ongoing management and consultative assistance in terms of actioning the results. For more information and to find out how we can help, please view our website www.cxsolutions.com or contact us at (703) 524-1456.